Goodspeed's New Musical DARLING GRENADINE Begins Tonight

Goodspeed Musicals continues its commitment to innovative, thought-provoking works with this new musical. Darling Grenadine will run tonight, August 18, through September 17, 2017 at The Terris Theatre in Chester, Conn.

Darling Grenadine is sponsored by Third Coast Creative and supported in part by the National Fund for New Musicals, a program of National Alliance for Musical Theatre, with funding from The Hollywood Pantages, a Nederlander Organization - www.namt.org.

Meet fun-loving jingle composer Harry. In modern Manhattan, his charmed life with girlfriend Louise, brother Paul and beloved Labrador Retriever (also Paul!) sparkles with the fizz of romantic comedies and the whimsy of MGM musicals. But will it all go flat when reality interrupts Harry's tenderly orchestrated fantasia? A rich contemporary score explores the friction between romance and reality, bitter and sweet, high and low. Raise a glass to a musical serving something magical, moving and boldly new.

Darling Grenadine features book, music and lyrics by Daniel Zaitchik. As a singer-songwriter, his recording projects include Bad Dancer and Summer of the Soda Fountain Girls (with his old band Blue Bottle Collection.) You can find his music on iTunes and other such places - some released under his name and others as Blue Bottle Collection. As a playwright-composer his projects include Picnic at Hanging Rock (Goodspeed's 2017 Festival of New Musicals), Darling Grenadine and Suprema (with playwright JorDan Harrison.) His work has been developed at Lincoln Center Theater, the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, New Dramatists, Ars Nova and The Johnny Mercer Writers Colony at Goodspeed Musicals. Darling Grenadine will also be showcased at The National Alliance for Musical Theatre's 2017 Festival of New Musicals in October. He has been known to play at venues such as Joe's Pub, 54 Below, Canal Room, Rockwood Music Hall, Room 5 and The Bootleg Theatre. He has been awarded the 2017 Kleban Prize for Most Promising Musical Theatre Lyricist.

Harry will be played by Bryan Fenkart, who made his Goodspeed debut last summer at The Terris Theatre in A Sign of the Times. Mr. Fenkart made his Broadway debut in Memphis as Huey and went on to play that role in the 1st National Tour. Louise will be played by Emily Walton whose Broadway credits include August: Osage County and Peter & the Starcatcher. Off-Broadway she appeared in Ride the Cyclone (MCC), the Drama Desk-nominated Women Without Men (Mint Theatre Co.), Eager to Lose: A Burlesque Farce in Rhyming Verse (Ars Nova), The Shagg and Saved (Playwrights Horizons) among others. Paul (the human) will be played by Ben Mayne whose Off-Broadway credits include The View Upstairs (Dale) and Edwin. Mr. Mayne's other credits include the National Tour of South Pacific. Paul (the dog) will be played by internationally recognized "artist with marionettes" Phillip Huber. In addition to his past Goodspeed appearance in The Road to Hollywood, Mr. Huber is widely known for his work in the 3-time Academy Award nominated film Being John Malkovich, as well as his performance as "China Girl", which is featured in the Disney film Oz the Great and Powerful. Mr. Huber has been featured onstage in Tommy Tune's Busker Alley, Harry Anderson's It's Magic and Sandy Duncan's That's Christmas, among others. Phillip's production of Suspended Animation has been seen worldwide.

The ensemble includes DaNyel Fulton, who was in the Off-Broadway production of Jasper in Deadland as well as the 2nd National Tour of Hai; Nikko Kimzin, who played Chino in the International Tour and then Bernardo in the John W. Engeman Theatre production of West Side Story, for which Mr. Kimzin received a 2015 BroadwayWorld Long Island Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Leah Sprecher, who performed in Goodspeed's Pirates of Penzance and as a Pinkette in Happy Days (2008) and the National Tours of Radio City Christmas Spectacular, 42nd Street and Happy Days, joins the ensemble, along with Kevin Zak, whose Off-Broadway credits include Kenneth Starr in Clinton the Musical (2016 Lucille Lortel Award Nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical) and Buffalo Bill in Silence! The Musical.

This musical will be directed by Kristin Hanggi. who is best-known for directing and developing the international smash-hit Rock of Ages, which received five Tony Award nominations, including a nomination for Best Direction of a Musical. She has directed numerous productions of Rock of Ages, including Broadway, the West End, Australia, Toronto, Las Vegas and two National Tours. Ms. Hanggi's other stage productions include the development and directing of the acclaimed pop opera bare, which ran to sold-out audiences in Los Angeles and off-Broadway. bare brought Ms. Hanggi numerous accolades, including the Ovation Award for Best Musical, LA Weekly Award for Best Musical and the Robby Award for Best Director. bare has gone on to have over 100 productions all over the world.

Costume Design will be by Tilly Grimes. Ms. Grimes is an English theatre designer based in New York. Her credits include Bess Wohl's critically acclaimed Small Mouth Sounds (directed by Rachel Chavkin), Kingdom Come and Lightning Rod Special's Underground Railroad Game. Recently, Ms. Grimes designed the costumes for Goodspeed's Deathless at The Terris Theatre. She has designed for Roundabout, Ars Nova, The Foundry, Red Bull Theatre, Cherry Lane, Clubbed Thumb, The Barrow Group, New Georges, La Mama Theatre and many others.

Lighting Design will be by Ben Stanton, a two-time Tony Award nominated Lighting Designer. Mr. Stanton's recent theater projects include the Broadway revival of Six Degrees Of Separation, Deaf West Theater's Broadway revival of Spring Awakening, Becky Mode's Fully Committed and Fun Home (Off-Broadway, Broadway, 1st National Tour). In addition to theater, Ben works frequently designing concerts and tours for recording artists such as Beirut, Spektor, Sufjan Stevens and St. Vincent. He serves as the resident lighting director for Skylight Modern, and he's the founder and principal designer at Stanton Collaborative, a design collective focused on bringing a theatrical aesthetic to live events, concerts and installations.

Sound Design will be by Jay Hilton, who has designed countless productions at both The Goodspeed and The Terris Theatre in Chester. His work has also been heard on Broadway, National Tours and at Regional Theatres from coast to coast.

Music Direction for Darling Grenadine will be by David Gardos. Mr. Gardos returns to The Terris, where he previously served as Music Director for My Paris. He has worked on several Broadway shows, including the 2016 revival of Falsettos, Finding Neverland and the 2014 revival of Side Show as Associate Conductor and Keyboards. He also served as Associate Conductor for the original touring production of In the Heights.

Casting for Darling Grenadine is by Paul Hardt of StewartWhitley Casting.

Development of Darling Grenadine was supported by the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center during a residency at the National Music Theater Conference of 2016. Preston Whiteway, Executive Director; Paulette Haupt, Artistic Director.

Darling Grenadine will run August 18 - September 17, 2017. Curtain times are Wednesdays at 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 pm, Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays at 8:00 p.m., Saturdays at 3:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., and Sundays at 2:00 pm and 6:30 p.m.

For over 30 years, The Terris Theatre has been Goodspeed's home for developing fresh, innovative and original new musicals. Many new and reimagined musicals have been developed in Chester, Conn., before moving on to Broadway, Off-Broadway, National Tours and other Regional Theatres. Because this is a developmental theatre, the show can change on a day-to-day basis. New scenes are added, songs are moved, costumes are changed, dialogue is tweaked?all based on audience response and feedback.

Under the leadership of Executive Director Michael Gennaro, Goodspeed Musicals is dedicated to the preservation, development, and advancement of musical theatre. Goodspeed produces three musicals each season at The Goodspeed in East Haddam, Conn., and additional productions at The Terris Theatre in Chester, Conn. The first regional theatre to receive two Tony Awards (for outstanding achievement), Goodspeed also maintains The Scherer Library of Musical Theatre and The Max Showalter Center for Education in Musical Theatre. Goodspeed gratefully acknowledges the support of United Airlines, the official airline of Goodspeed Musicals, official auto sponsor Hoffman Audi, and official audio sponsor Sennheiser. This production is also made possible with the support of the Department of Economic and Community Development, Office of the Arts.